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Katherine Dunham - A Dance Pioneer

© Karen Dito

It is unlikely that black dancers in this country would have emerged as they have without the efforts of Katherine Dunham "who captured the love and admiration of the whole world of dance."(Emery) Dunham is a dancer, choreographer, writer, anthropologist, and educator and has been called a 'split personality' by dance critic John Martin because of this diversity. Most importantly, "Katherine Dunham is a true humanist who takes seriously the inherent worth of the individual, no matter what class or culture that individual comes from."(Rose)

Dunham, who was born in Chicago, Illinois 92 years ago, discovered dance in high school. She was also active in basketball and track and participated in the school's productions as a dancer. Dunham began to study anthropology at the college level because of the "strong connection between the dance, music and archaic ceremonials of a people and these people's social and economic history."(Emery) Throughout college, Dunham gave dance lessons to help pay her tuition. After the completion of her degree in anthropology, Dunham was given a Rosenwald Travel Fellowship to study the people of the West Indies. This would begin a lifelong relationship between Dunham and these people, especially the people of Haiti.

From her trip to the West Indies, Dunham gathered invaluable information which she would later use to develop her own dance technique know as the Dunham Technique. She would also write many articles and books about her travel experience and eventually adopt a philosophy which would celebrate dance not only as a physical movement alone but also as a way of life. In the years to follow, Dunham created dances to reflect her new philosophy and help others to appreciate the richness of African inspired dance.

I am lucky to have had first hand experience with the Dunahm Technique at San Francisco State University under Dr. Albirda Rose, one of the few teachers in the world certified to teach the Dunham Technique. I have found this technique to be without rival on both the technical level -- it will give you solid form comparable to ballet -- and on a spiritual level. It was in my Dunham-based African Haitian class that I suddenly felt a wave of oneness with all my classmates during a group dance. When I took this class, I was unaware of Dunham's great contribution to dance and the humanities in general, but this experience led me to learn more.

Beyond Dunham's contribution to dance through her wonderful technique, movie and theater appearances, and books, Dunham is an incredible woman. I was overwhelmed by her presence at a lecture in 1994 (she was 85!). She spoke of socialization through the arts and the strong connection she feels between the arts and sciences. It seems that Dunham's quest in life is to know and understand people and their culture. Dance is the means by which she tries to achieve this goal. It is from this philosophy that her technique was derived and it continues to change as Dunham sees fit. She has recently added an Eastern philosophy component to her technique which is comparable to Tai Chi. The flexibility of the Dunham Technique is why it is truly a way of life.

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